Getting desperate because of abuse of power by a CS worker

[DDFR45]

My daughter has recently had 3 of her 5 children taken off her for a week over allegations of physical abuse, her 2 eldest apparently told someone at school she hits them, her eldest has told his mum he never said that, he has learning difficulties and speech problems and his words could have easily been twisted at school. This happened 3 days after a temporary child services worker was appointed to my daughters case while her regular CS worker went on 2 weeks annual leave, she hadn't even been out to see the family to get to know them. While waiting for court the CS worker sent a colleague to go to my daughters house and monitor them for 2 hours every saturday and sunday, that stopped after 7 visits and his reports said he had no concerns, she also sent a mental health worker out to assess my daughter, her report said she has no concerns and she told my daughter that's the shortest report she's ever had to write, i heard that with my own ears, also a junior CS worker who had been out a few times reported she had no concerns. The 1st court hearing was adjourned for 1 week because she sent the reports to the solicitors late the night before minus the no concerns reports so it didn't give them enough time to build a defence. A week later the court awarded in favour of the CS worker, still none of the no concerns reports submitted but what was in those reports were the paternal grandparents of my daughters 2nd eldest child, her 5 kids have 3 different dads, saying she has beaten him since he was a baby and also they are trying to get permanent custody of him. My daughter lived with me and her mum until the 2nd eldest was 16 months old, her eldest was around 2 and a half, she never raised a hand to those boys. The paternal grandparents had very minimal contact with their grandson so they would have no idea what she did or didn't do. The CS worker said she didn't want to separate the boys, she ended up putting the eldest and 3rd eldest kids in with foster parents together and the 2nd eldest was given to his paternal grandparents, he was given to them when they were originally taken for a week. I have seen that when children get taken they are given to family members, me and my wife said we would have them, the paternal grandparents of the youngest 3 kids said they would have them. My daughters children were not at risk until this CS worker was appointed initially as a temp and then as a permanent, she is causing mental distress to those boys, my daughter has seen her boys twice since at a centre and both times she has come out with physical marks on her neck and face because the 5 year old, the one given to his paternal grandparents, has physically attacked her, there is cause for concern as to the effect it is having on him. There is another court hearing tomorrow and the solicitors having been pushing for the no concerns reports, they still haven't got them.
This is why i say there is an abuse of power, reports have been manipulated, truths twisted and lies have been made up so the CS worker can get the result she wanted from the moment she was appointed a temp. Why is she leaving out the no concerns reports and why are the 2nd eldest's paternal grandparents involved so much, there is clearly a hidden agenda going on here and she is creating problems where problems didn't exist. She is destroying a family and seriously needs to be stopped before it goes too far, there is still time to repair the damage she has caused. Is my daughter able to request a different CS worker because there is something off about this one, some people who have met her get an instant bad vibe, surely the majority of the people can't be wrong. I am waiting until after the court hearing tomorrow where all the details are finalised then I am going to put in an official complaint about her. I can't sit idly by while she's destroying my family. I'd appreciate some advice on how best to present the complaint.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear DDFR45

Welcome to the parents’ discussion board and thank you for your post. My name is Suzie and I am FRG’s online adviser. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties your family is experiencing. I will respond to your query here today but if you have any further queries please post on our specialist kinship carers’ forum as you can then also get advice and support from other grandparents and relatives as well as from me.

Your daughter is going through care proceedings in relation to her children due to allegations of physical abuse which you strongly reject. At the time of your post your daughter had another court hearing due so the situation may have moved forward. You and your daughter may find this advice on care proceedings useful as well as this guide to working with a solicitor. It is important that she works closely with her solicitor who can represent and advise her during the court case. She will be able to discuss with them how to challenge or respond to any of the concerns raised.

You are right that family and friends must be considered when seeking a placement for Looked After Children. Children’s services have a legal duty to place the children with people in a certain priority order:

•Children’s services should first see if a child can be safely cared for by their parent(s). Or by someone else with parental responsibility
•They should next look at the most appropriate placement looking first at wider family, friends and other people already connected with the child who are already approved by children’s services as foster carers
•Only where this is not possible, should children’s services go on to arrange for a child to live with unrelated carers.

Your daughter should put you forward to the court as potential carers. You can also contact children’s services’ directly to request an initial family and friends carers assessment. You can see a guide to the assessment here and we have a template letter (letter 3) that you can use if your initial assessment is negative.

Your daughter can request a different social worker by writing to the team manager and requesting this, explaining her reasons why. However, the manager is not required to agree to this and may be unlikely to do so as the matter is now in court.

You are considering making a complaint; you can find out more about how to do it here. You should bear in mind that the complaint will not address matters that are being decided upon by the court. As you are not the children’s parent you need to set out that you have ‘sufficient interest’ in the child’s welfare to complain. You will continue to need to work with social workers while your grandchildren are in care and if you want to care for them. Our guide to working with a social worker provides tips on how to do so.

While the children remain in foster care this information on children in care under a court order will help you understand the care planning and reviewing processes that need to happen including plans for contact. Your daughter should discuss with the social worker how her 5 year old is behaving during contact and her understanding of this.

I hope this has been of some help. If you would like to talk through the situation with an adviser please ring our freephone advice line on 0808 010366, Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm (except bank holidays) or please post a further query – on our kinship carers’ forum.

Best wishes

Suzie

[DDFR45]

Thank for your reply, I will look at the help sections you posted for me, my desperation has now turned in to determination, I know it could be a long process but where I feel the whole situation has been manipulated I need to learn everything I need to know, not just to help my daughter and grandchildren but the next innocent family that has the misfortune of having the same Child Services worker appointed to them.

I'm not sure how to put myself forward as a kinship carer because up until a few hours before the 1st court hearing I was under the impression that my eldest grandchild would be coming to stay with me, then I received a phone call from the CS worker saying the court would be in touch with me by phone to tell me why it was a negative to me being my grandchilds kinship carer, I never received that call but found out from my daughter, who had read it in the report she had, the reason was because my wife is disabled, we are on benefits and we struggle to get stuff in. I have already been denied once and I feel I would be denied again. As I have said previously my wife's disabilities do not stop her helping to look after a 6 year old, we are on benefits but I have never said we struggle to get stuff in, my eldest daughter lives with us and has a steady job, she buys most of the groceries, she even buys for the grandkids when they come to stay, which they do, or did until all this happened, every Friday and went home on Saturday, our cupboards are never empty, the CS worker knew that but didn't want to know. I truly believe the real reason it was a no is because my eldest daughter got annoyed with her and I got angry and told her straight I can see what she is doing, I feel she is punishing us because of that. She is not only punishing us she is also punishing the eldest and middle grandkids who are with foster carers, strangers. The 3 eldest all have different dads, the eldest was coming to us, 2nd eldest was going to his paternal grandparents and the 3rd one was going to his paternal grandparents, the CS worker didn't want to separate the 3 of them but because I was denied the eldest the 3rd eldest couldn't go to his paternal grandparents, the 2nd eldest was given to his paternal grandparents, he has no restrictions, he goes out with his aunty, uncle and cousins, sees a lot of his dads side of the family, the other 2 have been taken away from their mum and dad, the eldest calls him dad, their brothers and new born sister, both sets of grandparents, aunties and cousins and put with strangers. This is completely unfair to those 2 boys, they should be with family.

[DDFR45]

I have just read the section on making a complaint and I don't fit in to any of the categories of who can make a complaint. My complaint is against the child services worker who I believe is abusing her power, she is manipulating and twisting truths, and adding in lies to her reports to get the result she wants and also not submitting reports from a social worker who spent 14 hours in my daughters company monitoring the family, those reports state he has no concerns. My daughter pre warned me that this CS worker lies before I'd even met her and I know at least 2 times she has said things in her report that I know I didn't say. I am becoming increasingly concerned over my daughters welfare and the effect this is having on my grandchildren, thankfully the eldest one seems happy enough but the 2nd eldest, 3 out of the last 4 meetings at a contact centre he has physically attacked his mum where she ends up with scratches, red marks and bruises, he even punched the CS worker in the face today, the only meeting where he didn't attack his mum the 3rd eldest was throwing chairs around while the 2nd eldest was bragging how good he was being that day. He was not a physically violent child before he was taken away from his mum.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear DDFR45

Thank you for your further posts. I am sorry to hear that you are so worried about your daughter and her children. As you are a grandparent this is not the right forum for you; as advised we have a specialist kinship carers’ forum so if you have any further queries please post there.

If you have already been assessed as a potential kinship carer you have a right to a copy of that viability or initial family and friends carers’ assessment. You should write in and ask to be provided with a written copy of the assessment as soon as possible. If you wish to respond or challenge then the template letter I provided a link to last time will help you do this.

In relation to your complaint, as a grandparent who has had a long-standing relationship with the children you can state that this gives you a ‘sufficient interest’ to make a complaint. If you are concerned about the social worker’s practice then you can state this. However, as the court is considering your grandchildren’s case it is best if your daughter, as a party to the proceedings, raises any issues or concerns about the social worker’s statements to the court with her solicitor who can advise on how to respond or challenges in the proceedings. The court is the highest authority and the decisions about your grandchildren will be made in the court arena.

The children’s behaviour is a concern and needs to be explored. There may be a number of reasons why they are behaving this way but this will need to be assessed. Your daughter will be involved in the children’s LAC reviews where their needs and how they are getting on in foster care will be fully discussed. We have information here about what a parent /carer can do if their child is unhappy or they are worried about their placement. Your daughter can discuss this with the social worker and the independent reviewing officer.

I hope this is helpful.

Please call our freephone advice line on 0808 801 0366 (Mon to Fri, 9.30 am to 3.00 pm excluding bank holidays) to discuss your grandchildren’s situation or post any further queries on our kinship carers’ forum.

Best wishes

Suzie

[DDFR45]

Thanks for your reply Suzie, as yet I haven't been approved for the kinship carers forum. So far the 2 in foster care seem happy according to my daughter which is good, my daughter, her boyfriend and their 2 youngest are getting on well at the foster parents they are with and those foster parents after the first 5 days put a complaint in to child services about the woman in charge of the case because of the way she treats people, it's the behaviour of the 2nd eldest child that has become a problem.